| Abstract: | Two philosophical traditions with much in common, (classical) pragmatism and (Heidegger's) hermeneutic philosophy, are here
compared with respect to their approach to the philosophy of science. Both emphasize action as a mode of interpreting experience.
Both have developed important categories – inquiry, meaning, theory, praxis, coping, historicity, life-world – and each has
offered an alternative to the more traditional philosophies of science stemming from Descartes, Hume, and Comte. Pragmatism's
abduction works with the dual perspectives of theory (as explanation) and praxis (as culture). The hermeneutical circle depends
in addition on the lifeworld as background source of ontological meaning and resource for strategies of inquiry. Thus a hermeneutical
philosophy of research involves three components: lifeworld (as ontological and strategic), theory (as explanatory), and praxis
(as constitutive of culture).
This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
